The Great Jack O’Lantern Blaze in Hudson Valley NY Tuesday October 22, 2019 What? Tour of Washington Irving’s Sunnyside Estate And? The Great Jack O’Lantern Blaze And? Early Dinner Fratelli’s Trattoria, NY Where? New York’s Hudson Valley Itinerary? 10:30am Depart home 11:15am Bus departs Brookdale – Bagels and a picnic box offered on board Dinner at Fratteli’s Trattoria. 10:00pm Return to Brookdale Descriptions? https://hudsonvalley.org/historic-sites/washington-irvings-sunnyside/ Washington Irving created a romantic, picturesque estate nestled along the Hudson riverbank. His characters, from the Headless Horseman to Rip Van Winkle, are global icons, and Irvi ng’s legacy lives on at his whimsical estate. Tour both floors of Irving’s fascinating home, Sunnyside and hear stories about what inspired him to write his most famous short story and see works of art inspired by The Legend of Sleepy Hollow. The tour also features a display of previously unseen objects from HHV’s collection. The Estate was celebrating Halloween and the walkway to the home was meant to be eerie too. Washington Irving was his own architect and managed to add many different architectural features to the house, so some would call it eclectic. Some liked it. Pictures were not allowed inside the house.
Transcript
The Great Jack O’Lantern Blaze in Hudson Valley NY
Tuesday October 22, 2019
What? Tour of Washington Irving’s Sunnyside Estate And? The Great Jack O’Lantern Blaze And? Early Dinner Fratelli’s Trattoria, NY Where? New York’s Hudson Valley Itinerary? 10:30am Depart home 11:15am Bus departs Brookdale –
Bagels and a picnic box offered on board Dinner at Fratteli’s Trattoria. 10:00pm Return to Brookdale Descriptions? https://hudsonvalley.org/historic-sites/washington-irvings-sunnyside/ Washington Irving created a romantic, picturesque estate nestled along the Hudson riverbank. His characters, from the Headless Horseman to Rip Van Winkle, are global icons, and Irving’s legacy lives on at his whimsical estate. Tour both floors of Irving’s fascinating home, Sunnyside and hear stories about what inspired him to write his most famous short story and see works of art inspired by The Legend of Sleepy Hollow. The tour also features a display of previously unseen objects from HHV’s collection.
The Estate was celebrating Halloween and the walkway to the home was meant to be eerie too. Washington Irving was his own architect and managed to add many different architectural features to the house, so some would call it eclectic. Some liked it. Pictures were not allowed inside the house.
Later: End the evening in awe at the more than 5,000 individually hand-carved, illuminated jack o’lanterns that create an elaborate walk-through experience at Van Cortlandt Manor. Complete with sound effects, synchronized lighting, and atmospheric music, this is a not-to-be-missed seasonal spectacle. From https://hudsonvalley.org/events/blaze/ The tri-state area’s biggest, most electrifying fall event. Meander through an 18th-century landscape and discover a breathtaking display of more than 7,000 illuminated jack o’lanterns—all designed and hand-carved on site by our team of artisans! Tour the brand-new Museum of Pumpkin Art, where classic paintings get the gourd treatment, see who let the (pumpkin) dogs out, listen for the Headless Horseman—and watch out for swooping jack o’lantern bats! See the Pumpkin Carousel twirl and the Pumpkin Windmill whirl and step inside the Pumpkin Planetarium for a star show like you’ve never seen. You’ll certainly hold a torch for the 25-foot-tall jack o’lantern Statue of Liberty and get personal with Instagrammable signs of the zodiac. Complete with synchronized lighting and an original soundtrack, this one-of-a-kind event is not to be missed! More than 1,000 volunteers help scoop, carve, and light the pumpkins and every single jack o’lantern is hand-carved on site by our team of professional artists.
YES! Everything was a pumpkin. Entries, houses, tunnels, moving windmills, etc.
The huge windmill was all pumpkins too, as was the bridge we walked over.
Another section was called the Art Museum with most of the creations being obvious: Freida Kahlo, The Scream, and Andy Warhol.
The Barnum and Bailey train was full size with a different animal on each carriage. We walked through the Planetarium with blue lights carved into pumpkins, with changing lights. There was a walkway of 12 huge astrological signs.
No picture but there was a cave with bats carved in the zillions of pumpkins on the ceiling. All through were sounds and music pertinent to the exhibit.
Huge Unicorn! The Statue of Liberty was 25 feet tall and with blinking lights. It was an interesting light display and amazing that it was spooky yet pumpkins. But don’t be jealous, as it was rainy and cold, there were screwball visitors who insisted on using their umbrellas despite running into everyone else. It was a good event for a one-time visit. Only one time. Dinner: Enjoy an early dinner at Fratteli’s Trattoria. 8 Old Post Rd S, Croton on Hudson, New York 10520 Tele: (914) 271-1100 https://fratellistrattoria.com/ Again, don’t be jealous. It was good but it lasted too long and the food was good but not worthy of another visit.
We started with family style appetizers including fried calamari, clams like Oysters Rockefeller, tomato and mozzarella and a couple more items I forgot. (No wonder I take pictures.) Main course was a choice of chicken parmesan or a steak fillet or veal marcella or salmon. Dessert was also family style and very amusing how folks maneuvered to get their fair share.
The streets of Croton-on-Hudson were lined with these “scarecrows” throughout. All in all, a good but long day as I was home by 10:30pm.
